Ken Myers is the Campus Recreation Aquatics Manager, managing pool operations. He has been swimming with Terrapin Master for six years and bagan coaching in 1996--two years after achieving a USMS top ten listing in the 200m breaststroke.

Myers has a B.A. degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland and is an instructor for the Kinesiology Department (WSI and Life-Saving). He grew up on the Eastern Shore on a dairy farm near Whorton, Maryland and is the oldest of four children.

Ken started his career in lifeguard and pool management, by taking Jim Wenhold's lifesaving course as an undergraduate. He enjoyed it, became a lifeguard, and then moved on to a job as Pool Operator at Cole Fieldhouse Pool in 1993. In 1995, he became Lifeguard Coordinator and in 1997, was hired by Campus Rec as Aquatics Manager for Pool Operations in the new Natatorium.

I asked Ken to talk about the Natatorium and pools. All three pools are run by pumps which have microprocessors giving digital readings about gallons per minute, amount of backwash, etc. Ken can dial up from home and reset any alarms and determine if there are problems.

Bromine (instead of chlorine) is used in the water. Although bromine costs more than chlorine, it is less corrosive on the equipment and is less irritating to swimmers. There is an automated bromine and C02 (to control PH) chemical feed for all 3 pools.

It takes 1,000,000 gallons of water to fill the 50-meter pool and it pumps 3,000 gallons/minute. This pool slopes from 8' to 13.5' (in the diving well). The instructional pool ranges from 3' to 4.5' and pumps 500 gallons/minute. There is an intrusion alarm on the outdoor pool which utilizes criss-crossing, invisible beams to detect motion.

There have been bids for regional, national, and world championships at the natatorium. 1999 ACC's are being held there on February 18-20 (women) and February 25-27 (men).